


my love is a tangled web

by elysiantree



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, LadyNoir - Freeform, Multi, Sad, Sad sad sad, but for now take this, if i ever get motivated i'll update, ladrien probs, sum adrienette, there's gonna be some adrigami in here cause i love it but it's not endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysiantree/pseuds/elysiantree
Summary: When a new, more powerful, younger Mayura appears one day in the middle of an akuma attack, Ladybug and Chat Noir realize that Paris is in more danger than ever before. Join the heroes on an adventure of love, pining, hatred, and death that involves them more personally than any of them could’ve dreamed.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, To Be Updated As Fic Progresses
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	my love is a tangled web

**Author's Note:**

> here's some garbage

Ladybug stood silently on the rooftop of the Grand Paris hotel, staring down at the ravaged city below.

Oh, the city itself wasn’t damaged, any more than buildings and structures can be damaged, but the very streets ached. More specifically, the people on the streets, who walked towards their destinations too quickly, arms around their chests, trying to gather themselves together in time, ached. They harbored the memory of all their love being sucked away, of being forced to obey the will of the Mayor’s bratty daughter and Hawkmoth himself, whom most if not all Parisians hated with a fiery passion. 

You see, although your memories of being akumatized were inexplicably erased, you retained all memories of the akuma’s effects if you yourself weren’t possessed. And all Parisians that had been affected were bitter in their remembrance and the thought that they had been used to almost cause the downfall of their beloved heroes.

So Paris was deathly quiet, that first night after the battle, quiet with painful memory, or memorable pain, or both, or neither. Ladybug herself was nearly numb with the rush of emotions and news and brand new things she had to deal with. She had spent the last few hours since the fight fending off reporters until she eventually snapped at Alya, of all people, and the hurt look on her face just made Ladybug feel worse.

But she barely registered any of it, because there were five important things pounding in her chest.

1) She was the Guardian of the Miraculous.

2) She was the Guardian of the Miraculous, and Master Fu was gone, forever, and - 

3) She was the Guardian of the Miraculous, and had little to no knowledge about the workings of them, or the history, or, really, anything a Guardian should know. 

4) She was the Guardian of the Miraculous, and that meant she would eventually, inevitably, lose her memory.

5) She wasn’t letting herself think about the fifth thing. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

She heard quiet footsteps coming up behind her, and turned to find Chat Noir with a sympathetic look on his face. 

She bit back a snarl. The last thing she wanted right now was sympathy. 

“My - Ladybug,” he said softly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said shortly, harsher than expected, and sighed. “I’m fine. I - you should go home.” She grabbed her yo-yo to swing away and felt a hand on her wrist.

“No,” said Chat firmly, “you’re not alright, and I’m not leaving, not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Internally, she was relieved. Chat was nothing if not a good listener, and that was one thing she needed.

Externally, she scowled. “I said I’m fine,” she told him, cursing herself all the while for being so stubborn. 

He just looked at her, and finally she caved in, sitting on the edge of the building. “No, I’m not fine,” she said, feeling a sense of deja vu from her talk with Luka earlier that day. “It’s my fault Master Fu’s gone. I’m - I’m only fourteen and I’m the Guardian of the Miraculous, for God’s sake!”

Chat’s eyes widened at the mention of her age, but said nothing.

“And that’s another thing - I’m inevitably going to lose my memories! I’ll forget everyone and everything I know.” She choked up.

Chat hesitantly walked to sit next to her. “That’s hard,” he told her. “And I know I can’t fully understand it. But…”

“But?”

“But I can help?” It was more like a question.

Ladybug sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. “You’re my best friend, Chat.”

He looked down at her. “You’re my best friend, too.”

“I - thanks, Chat.” 

She thought of Luka, then, leaning on the shoulder of her best friend and the person she was possibly (maybe) in love with. Luka, if nothing else, was a peaceful presence in her life, a calming melody. He was a listening ear who said he loved her; did she love him back?

Maybe, she decided. Maybe.

She thought of Adrien, her friend who was eternally entangled in her heart. But he seemed to be entangled himself. “The girl I’m in love with,” he’d told her on the ride home from the wax museum, and she knew he’d meant Kagami. Who else? Kagami was...she was gorgeous, and strong, and brave, and confident, and everything Marinette wasn’t. 

She thought of Chat, sitting beside her, a steady force always there for her, that she’d rejected in favor of pursuing a wild fantasy. “You and me against the world - as always,” they said. But they weren’t always. Nothing was always, she thought bitterly. Not anymore.

She thought of Chloe. Could she be redeemed? What she had done was nearly unforgivable, but she seemed to want to be a better person...

She thought again of Master Fu, with his love, but without his memories. That was how she would end up, she knew. With other people, but alone. Forever alone.

She sighed and leaned more on Chat’s shoulder. She didn’t know about him, but Ladybug needed all the comfort she could get. 

He responded by wrapping his arms around her. Ladybug took that as a signal that he was just as sad as she was, and nestled into his chest.

They sat like that for hours, until daybreak peeked out of its pink satin shell over the horizon. The sun rose on the heels of a new day over the city of love, ignoring how utterly loveless its citizens were feeling and coming up just the same.

The sun, perhaps, was Marinette’s only constant. She stood on her balcony that morning and watched it rise, sipping tea and absentmindedly stroking Tikki’s head. 

It was the dawn of a new day, of a new era, and Ladybug didn’t know if she was ready for it.

*

Maybe it was Paris’ changing climate that prompted Ladybug to declare an identity reveal. She stopped by the house of each holder (except Chloe) and dropped off their Miraculous, telling them to report to the Eiffel Tower at midnight.

Chat Noir, of course, was the first person told of this, only a day after she first came up with the idea, but he didn’t know exactly what he was planning to do. Ladybug trusted him implicitly, even if she wasn’t (wasn’t) in love with him. However, Rena Rouge was the first one to show up.

“I’m here,” she said breathlessly. “I’m here. Hi, Ladybug.”

“Hi, Rena,” Ladybug said. “Where’s, uh, where’s Carapace?”

“He’s coming,” she answered, surprised. “Had to babysit. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. Just, I know you’re close.”

“Oh, yeah.” She blushed. “We are.”

Ladybug almost smirked. “Uh-huh.”

Next was Ryuko, with a quick “Greetings, Ladybug, Rena Rouge,” then Chat Noir, then Pegasus with King Monkey, then Carapace, Viperion…

Within the span of ten minutes everyone was there. Ladybug stood up, sighed, and clapped her hands.

“Attention, uh, heroes,” she said loudly. “You’re probably wondering why I called you here today - tonight, I suppose.”

“I did find myself questioning your intentions,” Ryuko called from the back, and there was a general murmur of assent around the group. 

“Well - ” She hesitated. “I’ve decided to reveal my identity.”

Dead silence.

“What?” said a voice that sounded like Chat Noir’s, and then everything went up in flames. 

“Quiet!” she screamed, and then sighed again. “Look, I know you’re surprised, but I’ve decided this, and you can’t convince me otherwise.”

There was silence for a few long minutes, and then Rena took Ladybug’s hand and led her to sit down, gesturing towards the rest of them to join her. 

“Well,” she said when they were all situated, “I know you all know my identity, and I know most of yours, so I’m going to join our Ladybug over here in revealing myself.” She looked at Carapace, who smiled at her.

“Me too,” he said. 

Ryuko gazed at them calculatingly. “I will as well,” she said finally.

“Count me in,” said Viperion, and one by one everyone agreed until Chat Noir was the last one standing. He quickly sat down, and Ladybug looked around their group…

Rena Rouge and Carapace, fox and turtle, sitting next to each other lovingly. Ryuko and Viperion, in the same general vicinity but with uncomfortable looks on their faces. Pegasus and King Monkey, involved in a deep conversation with each other.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Ladybug took a deep breath and looked around at the group, all attentively looking at her. “Tikki…” Her voice wavered a little. “Tikki, spots off.”

The first thing Marinette registered was Chat’s shocked face - and it wasn’t a happy shocked. Her heart plummeted, and in that instant she knew she had never been more unhappy in her life, and, maybe, a depressing part of her said, not ever.

The second thing she registered were arms around her and warm, wet tears on her face as a detransformed Alya sobbed. “Marinette…” was all she could get out, and Marinette let her cry on her shoulder, wishing the whole time their positions were reversed. She looked up at Marinette with wet eyes and burst into tears again. “Marinette...you’re...you’re Ladybug…”

“I noticed,” Marinette said awkwardly, trying to pat her on the back.

That just made Alya cry harder. “Why...didn’t...you tell me...I made a blog about you!”

“Um.”

Once Alya was done crying, she declared that she wasn’t speaking to Marinette until further notice (which, she added, wasn’t likely to come soon) and marched off to sit next to Nino, who shot a sympathetic smile at Marinette and rubbed Alya’s back comfortingly.

The third thing Marinette registered was how cold it was suddenly. Admittedly, it was midnight on top of the Eiffel Tower, but she guessed she hadn’t accommodated for the built-in heating of the suit when transformed. Now, in nothing but thin pink pajamas, she shivered and automatically looked over to Chat Noir, who looked away. She winced.

“Well, dude?” Nino asked Chat Noir expectantly. “Are you going to reveal yourself or what?”

He looked uncomfortable. “I - ”

“Yeah, Chat,” Marinette said loudly, harsher than she’d intended, which, well, had been happening a lot lately. “Reveal yourself.”

“I - ” He hesitated. “I - no,” he said firmly.

“No?” Now Marinette was beginning to get really angry. “I revealed myself, you should too.”

Kim elbowed Max, who glared at him.

“It is only fair,” Max interjected, who seemed unhappy at being forced to pick a side.

“No,” Chat repeated. “I - I just - ”

“I don’t need your reasons,” Marinette told him bitterly. “Just - get out of here.”

He looked strangely hurt, but with a last glance at the group, who were depressingly silent, extended his baton and used it to push himself away across the rooftops.

Good riddance, a worse part of Marinette whispered. She pushed it away, shaking her head.. 

Luka looked strangely pleased, but she ignored that. She didn’t want to have to deal with him right now.

“What was that about, Mari?” Nino asked, staring at her indignantly. “Not cool.”

She swung on him. “You think it’s okay? I just - I just jeopardized myself and my family’s safety and he refuses to!”

Nino stared at her for a long moment and sighed, shaking his head. “Think about what you just said, dude. Maybe he doesn’t want to, you know, jeopardize himself and his family’s safety. Or something.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t - that doesn’t justify it!” At this point, she knew she was being unreasonable, but kept at it for the sake of...she didn’t know. But she needed an argument, to fight someone, and this was providing it.

Nino sighed again. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I - no, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are.”

“Not!” she cried.

“Marinette, see reason,” Kagami interjected. “You have absolutely no reason to be angry.”

She turned on her. “As if you know anything. He doesn’t trust me! He claims to be in love with me - ”

Cacophony. She knew she had crossed a line, but didn’t care.

“Woah, calm down,” Kim told the group. “There’s nothing to be upset about.”

Marinette shot him a withering glare and transformed in a cloud of pink light. “I’m leaving now. Goodbye.”

And with that, Ladybug swung away across the rooftops, not looking back.

**Author's Note:**

> leave kudos and comment if you liked it to fill the void left in my heart after the new york special.
> 
> tumblr @an-elysian-tree


End file.
